68 Nova leaf spring question

[DougsL78]

Hey guys,

The 5 leaf leaf springs here are for sure the factory ones that came with my ‘68 L78 nova as the drivetrain is original to the car…

While restoring, I noticed a difference in the angle of one of the bushing holes. See picture below. One is more ‘kinked’ than the other. There is no evidence of any damage and it’s smooth.. so my question here is whether this is a “68 Nova-ism” - god knows nearly every single part of the car is…. Or is this damaged and should not be restored/reused?

I figure if it was damaged it would be crunched- and there would be damage in and around it -which there wasn’t - it was 100% solid and original - and the springs looked like they had never been off the car…. But I’ve never seen a set of leaf springs on a Nova that were not identical….

Thanks all!

[69W314spd]

5 leaf pack off my 69 shows the same

[DougsL78]

Thanks - that’s super interesting…. I didn’t pay attention taking them off (I didn’t expect a difference).. so if they are different, is there a dedicated right/left? What side is the ‘extra bend’ meant for (and more interestingly, why??)

[luzl78]

the mighty torque of the l78.

[big gear head]

Slapper bars bend springs when they are not long enough to hit directly under the bushing. If I remember correctly Lakewood was too short. We used Competition Engineering on my brother's '70 Z28 because they were the correct length.

[69W314spd]

Originally Posted by big gear head

Slapper bars bend springs when they are not long enough to hit directly under the bushing. If I remember correctly Lakewood was too short. We used Competition Engineering on my brother's '70 Z28 because they were the correct length.

these are at the rear hangars not the front, have you seen it bend the rear?

[DougsL78]

I guess my question is - is this one bent or is it as designed? Should I be sourcing replacements? 69W314speed’s picture being the same is interesting and gave me hope I didn’t have to source another set.

[L78_Nova]

The rear eyes have the leaf centered to the bolt.
The front eyes have the leaf offset to the bottom for spring clearance to the subframe/mounting bracket.

I believe the OP has one rear side different to the other rear side which is probably not correct, just bent or mis-shaped a little. I don't believe there are specific LH RH fitd.